Tucked inside a portion of the former reprographics building, a quiet revolution is underway. Amid the clink of tools and the hum of assembly, two Modesto City Schools graduates, now new district employees, are transforming an empty room into a lifeline for the music programs that once shaped them.
With newly installed metal shelving, workbenches at various stages of assembly, and an expanding collection of specialized tools, the district's first-ever music repair shop is coming life piece by piece, string by string. And the best part? It's built by former students for current students.
Martin Martinez and Jonathan “Jay” Bugarin, both proud MCS alumni, were hired last year as the district’s first-ever Inventory and Music Repair Specialists. A Downey High School graduate, Martinez spent more than a decade repairing band instruments at Gottschalk Music Center. Bugarin, a graduate of Enochs High School, developed his skills as a trained luthier, or maker of stringed instruments, outside of school, apprenticing under a master guitar maker. Together, they are crafting a groundbreaking workspace, a support system for the very students they once were.
“We’re building this repair shop from the ground up, and that’s both exciting and rare,” said Bugarin, who specializes in string instruments. “I’m a repair guy at heart. The chance to bring these instruments back to life for students—that’s what it’s all about.”
A Vision Born Out of Necessity
The idea for the in-house repair shop took shape out of necessity. With only one remaining instrument repair shop in all of Stanislaus County and long wait times leaving students without playable instruments, Modesto City Schools began exploring a more sustainable and self-reliant solution.
During that exploration, district leaders toured a Career Technical Education (CTE) program in nearby Stockton, where students repaired instruments as part of their training. That visit sparked a new vision: Modesto City Schools could build a similar model — a professional-grade facility to service the thousands of instruments across all 34 schools.
The urgency became even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when thousands of instruments sat untouched and uncleaned, unable to be distributed to students.
“Even when COVID was ‘over,’ we had thousands of instruments that couldn’t be given out yet because they hadn’t been sanitized or inspected,” said Brandon Price, Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator at Modesto City Schools.
The experience exposed a significant gap in instrument care and accelerated the push for an in-house solution.
“Shops like this are scarce,” said Martinez. “If this didn’t exist, we would have to rely on just one busy shop in Stanislaus County or ship instruments to Clovis, Fresno, or Sacramento to get them repaired. It just made sense for the district to do this themselves."
With leadership from Sarah Olson, senior director of visual and performing arts, and Price, the district secured funding through Proposition 28 — a voter-approved initiative providing ongoing arts and music funding to California public schools—and the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials (AMIM) grant to invest nearly $450,000 in necessary tools, equipment, and infrastructure. A portion of the funds was also used to soundproof the space, which shares a wall with the district's school security team.
“Instead of sending instruments out and waiting weeks, we asked — what if we could keep that work in-house?” said Olson. “But this isn’t just about convenience — it’s about leveling the playing field. Every student at every site deserves access to a working instrument; this shop helps make that happen. And yes, we even soundproofed the shop because anyone who has worked in a music room knows repairs can get loud.”
While the up-front investment was significant, the long-term savings are expected to be even more substantial.
“Over time, this will pay for itself at least several times over,” added Olson. “By handling repairs in-house, we’re eliminating outside service contracts, cutting shipping costs, and getting instruments back to students faster, so they can keep playing without interruption.”
The Geek Squad of Musical Repair
Since joining the district, Martinez and Bugarin have been doing far more than tuning and soldering—though repairs haven’t begun yet. Instead, they’ve been on a mission, traveling from campus to campus in a new electric van, tagging instruments, scanning serial numbers, and logging them into a new districtwide inventory system. This groundbreaking technology for Modesto City Schools allows the district to know precisely how many instruments it owns, where they are located, and their condition.
“Before this, a lot of our inventory relied on spreadsheets or the memory of the music teacher at each school,” said Price. “Now we have a living, breathing system that gives us real-time insight and accountability. It’s a total game changer.”
Now, with the keys to their newly renovated space, the real setup begins. The two technicians are currently busy assembling workbenches, organizing storage solutions, and preparing to receive shipments of specialized tools. Their electric van purchased through grant funds, will soon be outfitted to pick up and deliver instruments directly to school sites.
With its ability to provide loaner equipment and make deliveries and repairs in-house, the new shop conjures up images of Modesto City Schools’ own “Geek Squad,” but for band and orchestra. Once repairs begin, the team can swap out broken instruments on the spot, getting students playing again without missing a beat.
“Some of these instruments haven’t had basic care in decades,” Bugarin shared. “We found one violin stamped ‘West Germany, 1954.’ That one is too old to go back into circulation, but if well-maintained, some of the older (more recent) instruments can still play beautifully.”
Preserving the Craft, Inspiring the Future
Martinez and Bugarin see their roles as highly skilled technicians and products of Modesto City Schools as hitting a high note in their careers, right where it all started.
“There’s not a lot of people who do this work anymore,” said Martinez. “It’s becoming a lost trade, so to be here, keeping students playing and programs running, means a lot."
Their knowledge is more than technical. It’s deeply hands-on, passed down through apprenticeships and years of experience. That’s why both men already dream of future possibilities, with student interns centered on instrument repair, craftsmanship, and music technology.
“This is a hands-on trade,” said Bugarin. “It’s passed down through mentorship, not manuals. That’s how I learned, and we’d both love to play it forward.”
The team aims to complete the shop and be fully operational by the start of the next school year.